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Are you thinking about starting a blog?
Are you wondering if blogging is still good as a career?
Is it still possible for new bloggers like yourself to make a full-time living from blogging?
Before I started my personal finance blog, I had exactly the same questions in my mind.
In fact, I only started to consider blogging after I read a lot of bloggers’ income reports.
Below is what came up when I searched for “blogging income reports” in our dear Google.
Maybe you have come across some bloggers’ income reports too.
When you see ordinary people like you and me making 6-figure a year (or even in a single month) just working from a computer at home, it makes you wonder if you could do the same.
This happened to me a few years ago.
It took me quite some time to decide to give blogging a try because I had my doubts.
Here’s why.
I was scared of investing a lot of time and effort only to have it fail in the end.
And I remember saying to myself back then, ” There are already many personal finance bloggers. They all started much earlier than me and have already built a very large audience. How am I going to compete with that?”
You see, self-doubt and fear of failure are very normal, especially when you want to make a change and try something new.
Realizing what is holding back is important.
But, what is more important is to realize fear and doubt is a reaction but NOT a decision.
What that means is that you can DECIDE whether you want your fear and doubt to take control of your life or you want to choose courage and take action to change your life.
So, how did I decide to go ahead and start my personal finance blog?
First of all, I came to realize that competition is good because this means personal finance blogging niche is profitable.
Secondly, just because there are already many bloggers in the same niche DOESN’T mean that I cannot make money as a new blogger.
Every blogger has their own unique story and attracts an audience that can relate to them.
This is like there are still many best-selling books being released every year by new authors, despite there are already many great books on the same topic.
If these new authors had let their fear and self-doubt hold them back, they would never know they could also become a best-selling author.
The same goes for one of my favorite fast-food restaurants – Shake Shack.
It was opened at a time when there were already so many popular fast food restaurant chains such as Mcdonalds, Chick-A-Fil, Wendy’s, Burger King and KFC.
If its founders had only seen competition instead of opportunity in the fast-food space, there would not be any Shake Shack.
Thirdly, I want to create an income asset for myself for LIFE.
When it comes to income assets, you might think of real estate, bonds or dividend stocks.
Yes, these are ALL income assets.
But, your blog can also be an income asset that generates monthly passive income for you.
The best part is that there is almost zero risks.
Here’s why.
For real estate and dividend stocks, you have to invest a lot of money to generate passive income from the money invested.
There is a lot of risks you are taking.
What if the property market crashes?
Or what if the stock market tumbles or worse the companies that you invest in stop paying dividends?
But, blogging is totally different.
There is very little cost involved to start and maintain a blog.
To be exact, all you need is less than $50 a year which is less than $5 a month and LESS THAN $0.20 A DAY.
So, your downside is extremely limited but the upside is HUGE.
I guess, this is what everyone has been looking for – low-risk high-return income opportunities.
Now, back to the original question, is it still possible to start blogging as a career?
Absolutely.
There is not a better time than today to start a blog and turn it into a full-time career because there are more than 4.5 billion active internet users as of today and this number is only going to increase steadily over time.
What does this mean for you?
That means there will be an increasing demand for online content.
By capturing just a very tiny percentage of these people and getting them to visit your blog, you can easily make a decent income.
So, if blogging sounds so good, shouldn’t everyone start blogging right now?
Although blogging is still a good way to make money online, not EVERYONE is suitable to be a full-time blogger.
Wanna find out how YOU can turn blogging into a full-time career?
Further Reading:
The Complete Beginner’s Guide: How To Start A Blog (From Scratch)
Are You Suitable For A Blogging Career?
So, here’s the REAL truth about choosing blogging as a career after having done it myself.
Truth #1: It takes time to see results
Blogging is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme.
So, if you are looking for ways to make money fast, this is probably NOT right for you.
Because you MUST be mentally prepared not to see any visible results for the first few weeks or months.
For my own personal finance blog, I didn’t see much traffic and revenue for the first 3 months despite having worked on my blog day in and day out.
As I knew this is normal, I didn’t let it bother me and kept working on my blog.
What happened next was that I started to see my blog traffic increasing every single month.
My efforts have paid off over time.
Truth #2: You need to write A LOT OF good content.
To get blog traffic, you need to have good content on your blog that attracts your target audience.
For all your blog posts, quality is very important.
When I talk about quality, I am NOT saying that you have to be a very good writer to be a blogger.
As a matter of fact, many famous bloggers are just average writers.
Here, quality refers to the relevance of your content, not your writing skills.
When you write good content that benefits your readers, you will not only be rewarded with more free traffic from search engines but also build a loyal readership.
So, how do you do that?
The key is to understand your audience well and know what problems they are facing.
This is important because it helps you write content that can really help your readers.
Let’s take KellyMom.com as an example.
This blog was started to help new moms with pregnancy and breastfeeding problems.
Now, let’s take a look at some of the blog posts on this website.
Each of the topics in the screenshot above is meant to help new mums with a specific problem.
And this is just a small part of all the content on the website.
With so much relevant content, new mums with breastfeeding problems will probably find the information they need and they might likely read other related topics while they are on the website.
This means more page views ( the total number of pages viewed by all your readers) and also longer session duration ( the total amount of time spent on the website).
Why should you care about this?
Because this sends the search engine a good signal about your blog – readers love your content.
Over time, search engine will send you more free organic traffic.
So, this brings me to my second point which is that quantity is also important.
Why do you need to write a lot of content on your blog?
First, you can cover a very wide range of topics that are of interest to your audience.
When you have so much content, you can help more people with their specific problems.
Secondly, it establishes you as an authority in your niche.
Let’s compare blog A and blog B which are both in the parenting niche.
Blog A has a total of 200 high-quality blog posts on almost all the common parenting problems.
On the other hand, Blog B only has a total of 30 blog posts on parenting.
Now, in the eyes of the search engine, which blog has a higher authority on the topic of parenting?
As a reader, which blog would you go to when you have a parenting problem?
Of course, Blog A.
Now, let’s look at an analogy.
When you do grocery shopping, which one would you prefer, Walmart Supercenters or Walmart Neighbourhood Market if e the distance is not an issue?
Of course, Walmart Supercenters.
Because it carries a much wider range of products and more stocks for each type of product.
It’s more likely you will find what you need when you go to Walmart Supercenters.
So, it’s the same for blogs.
When you have more relevant content, you get more traffic because people are more likely to find the information they need.
Truth #3: You need to be consistent
To make blogging work, you already know that you need a lot of good content.
But, that’s not enough.
You also need to be consistent in generating good content.
Some bloggers fail because they give up halfway.
If you look at all the full-time bloggers, you will see that they are still producing high-quality content regularly.
For my own personal finance blog, my goal is to produce at least 2 high-quality blog posts a week.
That’s 8 blog posts a month and 96 blog posts a year.
If I keep doing it every year, I will have at least a few hundred blog posts on my blog.
When I have this massive amount of high-quality content, it is not a question of whether I will get traffic to my blog but how much traffic I will get to my blog.
So, if you want to turn blogging into a full-time job, you must have the discipline to keep writing.
Want to find out how YOU can make a full-time living as a new blogger?
My Recommendation
If you are thinking about blogging as a career, here’s my advice.
There is no need to quit your current job right away.
What you can do instead is start blogging as a side hustle first because it’s very flexible.
You should ONLY think about quitting your job and turn blogging into your full-time job once your blog can generate a consistent monthly income to at least cover your monthly living expenses.
Remember that it takes time to see money come in from your blogging, so you should still keep your job to support yourself financially while trying to make blogging work for you.
But, if you want to accelerate your progress and dedicate more time towards blogging, then it’s also feasible to get a part-time job.
So, you have more time to grow your blog.
To succeed as a full-time blogger, it’s simple, but not easy.
As long as you have the discipline to consistently produce good content for your audience, it’s just a matter of time you will turn your blog into a full-time job.
To get started blogging, you need to register a domain name and also get web hosting for your blog.
Here’s what I recommend.
Below is the web hosting plan that I am personally using:
Bluehost is the BEST web hosting for beginner bloggers for a few reasons:
- FREE domain name
- FREE SSL for your blog
- 99% server uptime (i.e. your blog is up 99% of the time)
- Fast website load time
Register Your FREE Domain Name with BlueHost Now
Once you have bought your web hosting, the next thing you need for your new website is a fast and responsive WordPress theme.
A WordPress theme is like the interior design of the new empty house you just bought.
When it comes to choosing the right theme, there are three things that are super important:
- Speed
- Responsive design
- Conversion focused
Ideally, you want a WordPress theme that is light and fast, so your website will load quickly for your website visitors. A fast website gives them a better user experience as well.
For website themes, I recommend Thrive Themes because it has EVERYTHING you need to not only grow your audience but also monetize your blog.
When it comes monetizing your blog, I recommend that you start with affiliate marketing first because it’s the quickest way to make money from your blog.
Right now, more than half of my blog revenue comes from affiliate marketing.
The best part about affiliate marketing is that it’s completely passive.
So, you could be earning an affiliate commission even while you are sleeping or spending time with your family.
That’s also one of the reasons I chose affiliate marketing because it gives me a lot of flexibility to spend more time with my son.
Here’s an example of me promoting investment books on my website.
Basically, what I did was that I signed up to be an Amazon affiliate.
As an Amazon affiliate, I can promote any product that is being sold on Amazon using my unique affiliate link ( yes, that is how they know the sale is referred by you)
The investment books above are shown at the end of one of my investing blog posts because I felt that it was relevant and it might even be helpful to some readers who want to read more on the topic.
If my readers think that the book is good and decides to buy, then I will be paid a small commission by Amazon at no additional cost to him or her.
So, I highly recommend affiliate marketing to anyone who wants to start blogging for the first time.
But, to succeed in affiliate marketing, you need to learn how to get started the right way.
Here’s a FREE affiliate training that you can sign up to get yourself started.
Anand says
It is not so difficult to get started on blogging. But to continue to keep blogging requires a lot of discipline and commitment.
Gladice Gong says
Yes, it does require a lot of discipline and commitment!